“Terry, your team has had to overcome a lot of injuries. How are you going to overcome these?”

“Terry, aren’t these injuries tough?”

“Terry, your team is going to have to regroup. They’ve done it before, but can they do it again? It’s really going to be tough, isn’t it?”

“Terry, so many injuries — have you ever seen anything like this?”

“Terry, you’ve had to keep your team together through a lot of tough injuries. Now you’re going to have to do it again. How will you do that? It’s gotta be tough.”

“Terry, you’ve lost some of your key players before, and now you’ve lost two more — and you lost a tough game. Is it tough?”

“Terry, the injuries…have you ever seen anything like them and where do you go from there?”

I’m not sure what else there was to ask, but I do know there was no chance there’d be any answer beyond some version of, “No, I haven’t seen this many injuries; yes, this is tough; we’ll have to see what happens next.”

So I’m not sure why the same essential question needed to be asked over and over. It’s just what those guys do, I guess. Then they ran to David Wright’s locker and repeated the exercise.

Best to Jose and Daniel for speedy recoveries. Best to Terry on figuring out how to get through the rest of the season with a continually depleted roster. And to those who cover the team, good luck coming up with a second-day angle — you can start by not asking everybody else if they’ve ever seen anything like this.

16 comments to Asking Terry Collins the ‘Tough’ Questions

Murph’s injury was definitely a kick in the stomach. The marvelous one was new and exciting, in many ways when Jose was called up. Not knowing what could happen with him on the bases or in the field added was entertaining on it’s own. Seeing him in tremendous pain and look of fear being helped off the field – that was just unfair.

Reyes is a disappointment but less so because ownership threw in the towel against a mini-miracle when Beltran was sent packing. I suspect the Wilpons aren’t completely upset about the hamstring issue. When Jose came back two weeks ago he wasn’t the same player. Now, if the re-injured hamstring is serious enough to place him on the 15 day DL other clubs might have second thoughts about a long-term commitment in the salary range Jose would have otherwise commanded. Thus Sandy might be able to re-sign him for a lower figure than originally anticipated and maybe at a season or two less.

It was a bitter day for sure. Losing Murphy for the year and Reyes for who-knows-how-long….again…sure feels like the death knell. Oh well, .500 is still a noble goal to play towards, but it’ll be a way tougher road to hoe now.

Since I don’t follow football, maybe someone who does can tell me: Do the New York Giants, who use the same doctors as the Mets, have this many injuries, year after year? Because if the answer is no, it’s probably not the doctors.

I also find it hard to believe it’s the trainers; they don’t diagnose conditions, and besides, superstar players like Reyes, Wright, and Santana (though possibly not relative n00bs like Murphy and Davis) have their own personal trainers, in all likelihood, and would listen to them first.

And since switching GMs has not made a dent in the number of injuries, it’s not him either. That leaves the following: The Pons are overriding the doctors’ orders; players are not sufficiently evaluated for brittleness before they sign; or, we’re snakebitten, baby. Maybe the price of having someone like Reyes around is knowing that his explosiveness could blow up on him at any time. But Murphy? He gets taken out for the year on slides at second two years in a row? I have to vote for snakebite here.

And also: The media is trying to bait Collins (and Wright) into a public meltdown, the better to attract eyeballs to their fossilized profession. They don’t expect any kind of cogent answers to those questions. They just think it would be fun to watch them fall apart on camera. They’re sick people.

As my Jewish mother would always say, it could have been worse. Though out for the year, the injury Daniel sustained will not require surgery – just four months of rest. That means by January he could begin working out and get ready for spring training. My only worry was that something similar was said of Ike Davis and he still has his foot in a block.

While we all still feel sick in the stomach about this one it doesn’t mean the season is over. This is a young team with many hungry to prove they belong in the majors (Turner, Duda, Thole, Tejada, Neise, Gee, Beato, etc.), veterans still hoping for jobs if not with the Mets then at least somewhere else next year (Harris, Hairston, Cappuano, etc.) along with a left fielder trying to find his way and finish strong. If this was the Jerry Manual Mets, I would be more concerned since they were lackadaisical to begin with but not with this group, not under Terry Collins.

OK kids, you’re still good and can prove it these last seven or eight weeks. Continue giving us something to look forward to in 2012.

Will also admit that taking into account the current situation, I’m glad we have Zach Wheeler rather than Carlos. Wonder what is holding up deciding who that player to be named later is from Milwaukee?

This latest Jose injury is a great excuse for the Wilpons to NOT sign Reyes. if some idiot wants to give him 7 and $140MM, be my guest. If the Mets come up with a 5 year, $95MM offer and he turns it down, well, don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

The middle of this season, after the terrible start, has had the same sort of feel to it that the unexpectedly competitive mid-summer of 1980 did. That season, just like now, the Mets were 56-57 at the 113-game mark, which is exactly when they fell off the cliff.